Can you trust those search engine results? When you type in “best restaurants” and your city name, are you really getting the best ones? After all, marketers (including us) work hard to get their clients’ businesses listed higher in the search rankings. There are tips, you see.

And then, there are tricks. Naughty search engine malpractice tricks, also called “black hat” techniques. If Google catches you, they’ll slap you down, or even remove you from their results altogether. And if you’re not on Google, DO YOU EVEN EXIST AT ALL? That’s a serious question for businesses today.

So it was with great interest that I read this article in the New York Times on J.C. Penney’s search engine subversiveness. It seems that my grandmother’s favorite retailer has been up to no good. During the holidays, if you typed in “little black dress,” guess who shot up to the top of the rankings? J. C. Penney. Really? Really? Cuz when I think of a little black dress, that’s IMMEDIATELY who comes to mind.

Obviously, Google wants their results to be relevant, not head-scratching. I won’t bore you with all the details of how Penney’s managed to pull off this feat (read the article for more), because you shouldn’t be doing what they did! And they did get caught.

Also, I wanted to point out that I was thrilled to see this in the mainstream media. Search engine optimization is one of the most important marketing tactics for any business today – in fact, one could argue that it is THE most important thing a business can do – and I rarely see it written about outside of the marketing pubs and blogs. EVERYBODY writes about Super Bowl commercials but very few businesses ever have the chance to run an ad in the Super Bowl. Most of us do our marketing in other arenas. So kudos to the Times for this and keep ‘em coming!

We’ve been looking for a great search engine specialist to add to our team for YEARS and we finally found one! It was important to me to find someone who understands that search is an important component of marketing – but still just one piece of an overall puzzle. Frankly, I met with a lot of people who detailed pages and pages of what they consider “basic” search engine optimization services. To me, it read like b.s. busy work. I wanted to understand what are the main activities that are going to get my clients 90% of the way there?

Josh gets it. Big time. He knows the basics very, very well. He knows the extra stuff if you have the time and budget, too.

Josh worked with a National Recruiting Network over the last two years, helping client offices achieve organic visibility through intense Search Engine Optimization campaigns.  Outside of working with recruiting firms, Josh has also worked to launch start-up websites and help them achieve organic rankings very quickly to build their businesses.

Josh gets search. I get that you have a budget. I think you’ll like our search engine packages: basic optimization services for just $600/month. E-mail me for details (sherean at newthoughtmarketing dot com). Set-up fees are affordable, too (just $250/page).

p.s. – He’s also a social media whiz and will work with Terri, Vesatee and Cara on social media projects as well. Bonus! (Actually, as you may have heard, social media’s an important piece of the search puzzle. So it’s a good thing he knows it.)

Search is the 2nd most popular online activity (email is 1st), yet I can tell you that most small to medium sized businesses still do not include any type of search engine optimization in their marketing plans. Even simple things, like getting listed on Google’s Local Search, can have a big impact. There are a number of search engine optimization resources online; just run a quick Google search on “SEO tips” and you’ll find plenty. (Or, if you’re feeling completely overwhelmed, shoot me a quick e-mail and we’ll help you out.)

Read more here: Study: 49% of Users Utilize Search Daily